Effective Management Of A 5th Grade Class During The Beginning Of The School Year.

During the beginning of the school year, the teacher is introduced to new students while the students are introduced to a new teacher. As a teacher during the first class time the following can be done to ensure that there will be a successful school year.

Teacher- student association

The teacher should introduce herself/himself to the students and let them know them. This will include some of the classes she/he has taught and how long they have been in the teaching profession. This will act as an ice breaker and will be initiated by the teacher.

The teacher will ask all the students to introduce themselves to her and get to know their names and hear their voices. This activity will only be done in the first class and will be an introduction.

The teacher will tell the students their expectation of the class, in terms of performance, discipline and general well being. This will include a skeleton strategy that the teacher will have formulated and will be followed by the students.

The teacher will allow for some students feedback so as to be able to fill up the schedule. This will allow the students to fill that they are part of the decisions madeby the teacher and will freely participate. This will also be a chance for the teacher to get to know the students better and know who is talkative, who is the class clown, who is the one with serious opinions.

The above will also aid the teacher and picking the group leaders in the initial stages of the class. This is especially in classes that require group work like science.

Class arrangement

The class should be properly arranged in a manner that the teacher can be able to move around and get to see what every student is doing. This can be done with the assistance of the students once they come to class on the first day.

The teacher should be able to see all the students when she/he is seated at the front of the class. this will be communicated to the students as well to ensure that they are also seeing the teacher as well. This will ensure that the teacher is able to see the faces of the students and can be able to detect when they are distracted and not understanding a concept.

The teacher should ensure that the common areas of the class are easily accessible to all students to ensure that there are no distractions when they are doing so/ these areas include the file table, the pencil sharpeners and the book shelves.

The teacher will appoint a class leader who they believe is right for the job. The appointed class representative will be expected to ensure that books are well arranged and there are enough pencils and erasers for the entire class.

Rules and appropriate consequences of the rules.

The teacher will establish the ground rules of the class. For instance all students should be seated in class as the teacher will arrange them. The students will also be allowed to answer a question after raising up their hand and being called by the teacher to speak. No chorus answers will be expected from the class. this brings about organization and coordination.

As a teacher one should lead by example, this means if the students are not allowed to be late for class the teacher should always be there on time.

The teacher should not set any rules that they know they are not willing or able to follow up. This is because there is need for consistency.

There should be a timetable that allows each student to participate in class activities like arrangement and anybody who refuses will be liable to more work. This helps to increase responsibility and accountability.